The PROFINET specification with updated extensions for TSN and security, plus the associated additional guidelines and tools, have now been completed by the various PROFINET Working Groups. This bundle of results shows the steps taken by the PI community for future-proof industrial communication with PROFINET.
The winds of change called for a new strategic direction in the development of PI's technologies. PI has taken up the challenge. The answer is the transition from a previously communications-oriented to an information-oriented technology portfolio.
Collaboration with key standards organizations and industry partners results in technology availability for new two-wire, intrinsically safe physical layer known as Ethernet-APL.
PI North America, the non-profit member-supported trade association for promoting industrial networking technologies in North America, has signed a contract with the IO-Link Community to become a Regional IO-Link Interest Group (RIOLIG) for North America.
On the heels of an immensely successful 2020, the IO-Link Community is building on the growth rate over the last years with an eye towards future developments. These developments stand to push IO-Link even further as an enabler for Industry 4.0 and IoT network architectures.
This month we feature news from around the IO-Link world: Usage of the IODDfinder has grown to 750,000 downloads per month; IO-Link has seen a strong uptick in North America in 2021; An archived webinar recording is available; and IO-Link is met with great interest in Japan.
Location tracking systems until now have been characterized by propriety solutions with complete vendor lock-in. That all changes with omlox. As an open standard under PI, omlox is poised to revolutionize the automation industry like PROFIBUS, PROFINET, and IO-Link before it.
It is my great pleasure and honor to be presenting the Welcome Article for this edition of PROFINEWS. What do 200 issues of PROFINEWS mean for our community? For some, it's just a number. But for the rest of us, it represents the achievements and growth of this market that's been created.